Takeshi Asakura
Takeshi Asakura is one of the seven Assassins sitting on the Elite Council of the Assassin Order. Formerly a Templar hitman, now he takes over for the "Interrogator" as the "Executioner" Biography Formerly a Templar hitman, Asakura was sent to assassinate the Grandmaster Cristobal Auditore within the Assassin bureau in Valencia. When he failed, thanks to the intervention of Ulysses’ brother Ezio Septimus shortly before the duo left for Aquila, Asakura returned disgraced and dishonored to the Grand Master Francois Germain. Doomed to execution, he was only saved when the young Assassin Ulysses Septimus intervened and stabbed the Templar Il Carnefice. Asakura, knowing he has no other places to go, allied himself with the Assassins, with his loyalty to them secured by Ulysses promising he would serve as the executioner of the Templar prisoners unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. With the ascension of Ulysses into the position of the Grandmaster of the Assassin Order, Asakura was granted control of the Mooshu Assassin branch, much to the dismay of several others, including Arno Dorian himself of the Polarian branch. It was not as though Asakura actually cared of what others spoke of him, however, and later, he was able to train and shape his own recruits into a band of deadly soldiers the Templars would come to dread meeting. Eventually, Asakura took over Ulysses’ position as the “Interrogator” of the Assassin Order, although he was more accurately and more fittingly named as the “Executioner” of the Order, only sent for to dispatch major enemies whom the Order wished to make a show of in order to frighten their enemies. Something he proved himself to be quite capable of doing, often utilizing downright brutal and unusual ways that left chills down the spines of any Templar unfortunate enough to learn of his name. Such was the case with Chrétien Lafrenière when he fell into the hands of the Polarian Assassins. Said Templar just so happened to be the advisor to the Polarian Emperor Napoleguin, and the one who had suggested for the execution of Arno’s parents Charles and Anna under the false pretenses of treachery. Enraged by this, the Polarian Governor asked for Asakura to come to the world of Polaris in order that he may be properly dealt a death fitting his crimes. And a death certainly was granted to him by the near mad Mooshu Governor, via slicing his torso open and strangling him with his own intestines. After the death of Lafrenière, Asakura returned to the world of Mooshu, where a new Emperor had started attempting to remove Assassins from power, at the prompting of another one of Mercilus’ advisors. However, this time, Asakura decided to play a lower hand instead of the brutal murders he would often commit: a simple trick that involved slipping a poisoned drink into the Emperor’s meal, and leaving the remnants of the poison in the Templar stronghold in the world. With this done, the Mooshu Royal Court effectively helped the Assassins (although unknowingly) in removing the Templars from power. Satisfied, Asakura returned to sharpening and training his recruits for any likely later battles to come. Appearance Pale faced, bordering on thin and constantly scowling, this would be none other than Takeshi Asakura himself. Possessing long, sometimes messy auburn hair as of expected of someone of his origins. It was said that Asakura’s eyes seemed to be planning, always, of someone’s doom or of their death: even more intimidating with the heavy looking bags under his dark eyes. Usually, he wore the outfit of a Mooshu Assassin, which was a crossbreed of a Samoorai’s armor with the hood of a Assassin, colored a deep scarlet, close to the coloration of fresh blood, earning him the name the Scarlet Ghost. While he is not in combat, he wears a white jacket with a patterning to resemble a serpent’s skin, over a thin undershirt of white silk and black pants: most of the time within the headquarters of the Mooshu Assassins. When in his Assassin combat suit, Asakura would also wear a Mooshu noh mask with his attire. However, unlike most elaborately colored masks, his was death pale, molded to fit closely to his face with it resembling what looked like the face of a man as he slowly bleeds out on the battlefield. Interestingly, he is the only Assassin who wears this, everyone else simply avoided letting anyone else to see their face with the protection of their hood. Personality "Takeshi Asakura is a mad man, a crazed dog that I will not trust with my life. But I will admit, he knows how to do his job" - Arno Dorian Takeshi Asakura was many things in his life. He was a hitman, he was a Knights Templar, and now he's an Assassin, there is only one thing that never changed, however, and that was the fact his mind was less than stable with the bloodlust coursing through his entire being. Asakura longed for blood, lavishing in the joy of battle or even just killing his enemies, and as a result, many of his enemies fail to realize that behind this mask of longing for bloodshed lies a mind that is just as dangerous as the man himself. For there is no denying that he had very little sanity left, nor the fact that Asakura is also ridiculously intelligent. He was the very mind that was behind the elimination of the Templars of the world of Mooshu, as well as the one that provided the tactical readouts needed for the Assassins to infiltrate and destroy many of the Templar bases around the worlds; enabling the Order to retain their powerful grip over the Spiral. Part of this, he had at one point admitted, was out of his lust for vengeance against the Templar Order for ostracizing him from their ranks and ordering his death, part of it was out of his want to repay his new master, the current ruling Grandmaster Ulysses. His temper could only be best described as very similar to a raging sea, never really concealed and always ready to lash out at any and all that are in his way or he deemed needed for elimination during a mission: only called off upon the command of Septimus himself, one of the many reasons why Arno Dorian believed he was a crazed dog that would do the Order harm eventually. It is all because of this, Asakura is rather prone to violent outbursts, during which if he was brought into a fight, he would have very, very little restraint, let alone mercy, upon those unfortunate enough to cross him. However, Asakura did seem to genuinely care, seeing that his loyalty had never once even wavered after he was rescued from the hand of the Templar known as Il Carnefice by Ulysses. Every command by the Grandmaster of the Assassin Order was faithfully executed by this former Templar assassin: therefore, some could safely say that Asakura functions as the Micheletto to Ulysses' Cesare Borgia, much to the dismay of Arno. He also seemed to genuinely care about the recruits under his command, seeing that he would almost always opt for a quiet approach that would reduce the number of casualties down to the smallest possible. Equipment and Skills As a Templar - turned - Assassin, Asakura is a master of a surprising number of weapons, starting from the standard Assassin equipment of the sword, dagger, and Hidden Blades (due to his current "Master Assassin" status). From his Templar side, he had learned the skills needed to properly navigate a ship, from the large galleons to the Mooshu junks often used by the Samoorai, seeing that as the Assassin Governor of the Mooshu branch he owns a rather large galleon for the sake of travel and combat. For a former Templar, Asakura's skill in free running is surprisingly adept, capable of quickly and very quietly scale buildings as well as the masts of ships with surprising grace even while carrying his katana and wakizashi blades with him; both which he used in combat and very often dual wielding. Other times he would just use his katana however, in the traditional two handed grip, should he be ever forced into combat by hostile presences. Although his best weapon that he knows how to wield with the most adequacy would be his dagger, the only item he had kept from the times when he was only a Templar hitman. With this knife, this mad Assassin is ridiculously agile, more or less using that blade to brutally gut and stab anyone he ran into in combat. Sometimes, he would even use this knife to essentially gut the opponents he came across, leaving a bloody spectacle for even some of the most weathered Assassins to handle: same thing goes with his wakizashi, whenever he's feeling just a little more brutal with his kills. Category:Assassins Category:Former Templars